Mass Update #1: Peru & Macchu Picchu

Hey Team!

I thought that as I reach the week 2 mark I should write and update a little. I met up with Kelly, Craig and Conor on April 3rd in Cusco . Cusco was definitely a way cooler city than I had anticipated. The elevation is pretty high so doing things like walking up stairs is practically exhausting. We hung around in Cusco for a day before taking the train to Aguas Calientes, the city closest to Macchu Picchu.

Of all the things that went wrong... I'm thinking that we should have had a terrible time... INSTEAD, it ended up making the whole experience even better. To start:

1) The ATM in Aguas Calientes apparently runs out of money

sometimes... Leaving Conor and I the only ones to have money, mostly in US dollars.

2) There was a raging domestic violence dispute next door to us at 2:30 am the night before our trek to Macchu Picchu. It involved loud screaming in espagnol and people/objects being thrown at walls.

3) Waiting in line for the bus at 5 am, we realize that we need tickets for the entrance, which we don't have. So we try to buy them, and apparently even though they list the prices in US dollars they only take soles... so Conor and I went to 4 different places at 5am and finally a jewelery store dude changed money for us.

4) Grabbed the bills and ran to the place so we wouldn't miss the bus, almost sprained my ankle in a gutter in the MIDDLE of the road and bought the tickets .

SO, we made it. We got to the entrance... did I mention it was rainy, foggy and our pics weren't turning out? HOWEVER, the sky cleared up, we hiked Wailu Picchu (death hike to the top of a mountain to see all of Macchu Picchu) and managed to do all this eating one power bar and drinking one bottle of water... Troopers, that's what we are. All in all, one of the craziest/coolest things I´ve seen.

We are in La Paz, Bolivia right now... The busiest freaking town ever, lots of traffic, honking horns and fotocopie stores ??? How many of those do you need? We're leaving tonight for the Salt Flats in southern Bolivia! More updates to come!

Love you all,

Bobs